First Oil Change
 

So my new Accord Coupe has just over 200 miles on it, but I have a question. When it comes time for the first oil change, should I do it at 3000 or 5000? The dealership put a sticker on it saying that the first oil change is due at 5000. I have always been under the impression that the first one you should do a little bit earlier due to any debris caused by the break in period. Thoughts? Also, on my previous Accord I always ran full synthetic oil at 5000 mile intervals, but now I'm wondering if I even need to use synthetic or just keep my 5000 mile interval with what the dealer fills it with?

Me, pull the sticker off the windshield. Use the computer that calc's the oil life. When it says you are at ~15%, plan the oil change - surprised the dealer didn't give the first one for free - buy the proper oil and a quality filter and have at it. Reset the oil life and keep driving.

Honda (the company, not your dealership) strongly recommends you leave the factory oil in the engine until the Oil Life Monitor (OLM) is down to the ten to fifteen percent remaining zone. Like many other manufacturers, Honda uses special pastes for assembly lube, and those pastes mix with the oil to aid break-in; changing the oil early will rob your engine of those special compounds.

As for running full synthetic oil for only 5,000 miles; unless you're racing or live in an extremely hostile environment (a very dusty desert or some such, heavy traffic doesn't qualify), then changing your oil so soon is a waste of money and resources. That said, please don't take my word for it, have some used oil analyzed and check out the results; the bet is that if you change per the OLM recommendations, the oil (assuming you use the aforementioned full synthetic) will still be in very good, and once the warranty is up, you will probably be able to run oil change intervals of at least 12,000 miles without shortening the life of your engine by even a mile.

I will have to read through the service book and see what they recommend for factoring in tire rotations when using the OLM.

Pretty sure it will call for tire rotation at each oil change. The maintenance-minder will light up in the cluster with a letter and some numbers.

"A" & "B" on the maintenance-minder are oil changes with & without a filter. IMHO it's silly to change oil & leave the dirty filter on there.

"1" is tire rotation. Higher numbers along with that will call for other stuff like airfilters or sparkplugs etc.

I have no inclination to start a debacle here, however on the oil change intervals....

Changing oil more frequently has never caused an engine to fail. Not enough causes failures everyday. I've worked in auto repair for nearly 20 years. I don't run synthetic, I run regular oil coventional oil. (unless it is specifically called for by the maker, or you are extremely hard on the car, you won't need it) I also am not a believer in buring $25 to have oil analyzed. You can do an oil change for that price. The way I see it, 3000 mile intervals typically means 4 a year. Roughly $100 a year for peace of mind and long life. I've seen far to many Hondas with issues from people "following the 15%" indicator.

You may not start a "debacle" here, but you may well start a debate.

Please don’t blur the line between extended oil change intervals using quality synthetic oils and neglect; the two are quite different. The first will keep an engine running as long if not longer than an otherwise identical car being subject to 3,000 mile oil changes, the second will kill an engine in a relatively short amount of time.

The fact is that there are very-very few car/driving condition combinations in the U.S. driving environment which would require a 3,000 mile oil change, which in turn means that 3,000 mile oil changes are, for the most part, a waste of time, money and resources. FWIW, I too started out as a professional wrench, over 35 years ago, and then became an engineer; during my career I've worked for both vehicle manufacturers as well as various ancillary automotive support industries.

I didn't want it to turn into a "debacle,' as it always seemingly does. And the fact is, that about 85% of people drive in what is considered severe.

AAA study finds most motorists drive under severe conditions, do not realize it | AAA NewsRoom

Should you maintain your vehicle by the 'severe service' schedule? - Sun Sentinel

I could link articles from here to Christmas on the topic. Less than 15% of people drive in a manner not falling into the catagory of severe driving.

And I'd say again, it's cheap insurance. You can do 4 conventional changes a year for less than $100. As for the waste, you must not be in the industry. Not only is it not waste, it's recycled into multiple different products after a re-refinement. That new Castrol that is made of half used refined oil is one. I had a company that came out to pick up my waste oil, and they paid me for it pretty well, about $1.15 a gallon. It is cleaned and used in several applications, from oil burning heaters to being worked back into shape and used in cars again. There is no waste. The old filters are sold to the scrap recycle plant.

The 85% number for severe operating conditions is old, very old, and very out of date; the concept has been repeated so often it has become more urban legend or old wives' tail than fact. It would be far more accurate to say that maybe 15% of relatively modern cars with modern engines running modern oil would be considered "severe" enough to require an early oil change.

Don't believe me? Great; check it out for yourself. Take some oil which you've drained after 3,000 miles and has been subject to what you consider "severe" conditions, and send it out for analysis. Dollars to donuts, the report will come back showing the oil isn't even half used up.